NICKLAS BENDTNER insists he is ready to take on the scoring mantle after Asamoah Gyan’s shock Sunderland departure.

The Black Cats were left in a state of disbelief after Gyan’s representatives negotiated a mega-money loan move to United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain on Friday afternoon, effectively forcing them to sanction the sale of their record signing and main goal-scoring threat a week after the transfer deadline passed.

To make matters worse struggling Sunderland are still searching for a first win of the season after a Stadium of Light defeat against Chelsea on Saturday.

If there is a pall of gloom on Wearside, confident character Bendtner insists he is the man to lift it – as he prepares for a “massive season” at the Stadium of Light.

The Arsenal loan man could have made the perfect start to life in red-and-white but misdirected a free header when Seb Larsson swept a wicked free-kick into the penalty area on the quarter-hour mark.

Otherwise he looked in pretty good nick and set up Sunderland’s late consolation goal – their first strike since they plundered an encouraging draw at Anfield opening day of the season.

He said: “I can cope fine with the pressure, I just hope I can deliver.

“I want to do my best each time I go out on the pitch and score the goals which is the main thing for any striker. We still have good players here despite Asamoah going.

“There’s always people breathing down your neck. But it’s a nice feeling when people are counting on you. It’s a massive season for me.

“I’ve not been reaching the ambitions I had with Arsenal because I was stuck on the bench. A lot of things happened that I wasn’t happy with. I’m not going to talk too much about it because it’s behind me now.

“I want to look to the future and going here on loan for a year is a good move for me.”

Bendtner’s miss proved to be a costly one for Sunderland as six minutes later they found themselves behind thanks to John Terry’s opportunist strike.

And the game was over early in the second half when Dan Sturridge’s audacious back heel crept over the line to leave the Black Cats with a mountain to climb – which they couldn’t do.

Bendtner admitted that it was a disappointing way to mark his debut but promised “more to come” – both personally and from a Sunderland side struggling to find form after a winless start to the season.

“I would have liked to have hit the target with my header. But I hope there’s more to come from me.

“We’ve still got a lot to improve on but in the second half we gave 100%. No-one could question that.

“We didn’t seemed to get the play the way we wanted. We came out in the second half really fired up and to go 2-0 down was really disappointing for us.

“But we kept going and we created more chances and seemed to put them under pressure. Deservedly, we got the goal but unfortunately it was a bit too late.

“It’s always difficult to play against a team like Chelsea though. They are a good team and they’ve got good players.”